# Google Ads Transparency Scraper — Competitor Ads by Domain (`nogards95/google-ads-transparency-scraper`) Actor

Get every ad a company runs on Google Search, Display and YouTube from the Google Ads Transparency Center. Enter competitor domains or advertiser IDs and get each ad with format, first and last shown dates, days shown and preview. An ad library for competitor ads research, by domain.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/nogards95/google-ads-transparency-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Nogards](https://apify.com/nogards95) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.59 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Google Ads Transparency Scraper — Competitor Ads by Domain

Get every ad a company runs on Google Search, Display and YouTube. Enter
competitor domains or advertiser IDs and get each ad with its format, first and
last shown dates, days shown and preview image, as clean JSON.

**Who is this for:** marketing agencies, PPC managers and e-commerce brands
who track what their competitors advertise on Google, and lead-gen teams looking
for companies that actively spend on ads.

### What you get

- Every ad of each domain or advertiser you enter, from Google's public Ads
  Transparency Center: text (Search), image (Display) and video (YouTube) ads.
- When each ad ran: first shown, last shown and the number of days shown, so
  you can see which ads are new and which have run for years.
- A preview of each ad: the image of the ad, or Google's preview link, plus a
  direct link to the ad on the Transparency Center.

### Sample output

```json
{
  "adId": "CR14326231898232193025",
  "advertiserId": "AR18378488041124659201",
  "advertiserName": "Nike Retail BV",
  "domain": "nike.com",
  "format": "TEXT",
  "firstShown": "2025-12-22T11:15:14.000Z",
  "lastShown": "2026-10-25T19:25:28.000Z",
  "daysShown": 190,
  "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/6265701392187200900",
  "previewUrl": null,
  "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR18378488041124659201/creative/CR14326231898232193025",
  "target": "nike.com",
  "region": "anywhere"
}
```

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `adId` | Google's ID of the ad (creative). |
| `advertiserId` / `advertiserName` | The verified advertiser who paid for the ad. |
| `domain` | The website the ad points to. Empty when you search by advertiser ID. |
| `format` | `TEXT`, `IMAGE` or `VIDEO`. |
| `firstShown` / `lastShown` | When Google first and last showed the ad (UTC). |
| `daysShown` | Number of days the ad was shown. |
| `imageUrl` | Image of the ad (for text ads: the rendered search ad). |
| `previewUrl` | Google's preview link, for image and video ads. |
| `adUrl` | The ad's page on the Google Ads Transparency Center. |
| `target` / `region` | The input target and region filter that returned this ad. |

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `targets` | Competitor domains (`nike.com`) or advertiser IDs (`AR16735076323512287233`). One run can check up to 100. |
| `region` | Only ads shown in this country. Default: anywhere. |
| `format` | Only `TEXT`, `IMAGE` or `VIDEO` ads. Default: all. |
| `shownSince` | Only ads shown on or after this date (up to 1 year back). Use it to get recent or new ads. |
| `maxAdsPerTarget` | Stop each target after this many ads. Default 50, 0 = no limit. |

### Example runs

- What 3 competitors ran in Italy in the last 30 days:
  `{ "targets": ["zalando.it", "asos.com", "shein.com"], "region": "IT", "shownSince": "2026-09-25", "maxAdsPerTarget": 0 }`
- Only a competitor's YouTube ads:
  `{ "targets": ["canva.com"], "format": "VIDEO", "maxAdsPerTarget": 200 }`

### Technical notes

- Data comes from Google's public Ads Transparency Center. No login and no API
  key are needed.
- Google does not publish ad spend, impressions or clicks for commercial ads.
  They are not in this data.
- A domain search returns every ad that points to that domain, including ads
  run by agencies, resellers or affiliates on its behalf. Use `advertiserName`
  to tell them apart, or search by advertiser ID to get one advertiser only.
- `shownSince` returns ads **shown** on or after that date, including ads that
  started earlier and are still running. To find new ads, sort by `firstShown`.
- `TEXT` ads come as an image of the rendered search ad, which shows the
  headline, URL and description. `IMAGE` and `VIDEO` ads usually come with
  Google's preview link (`previewUrl`).
- To find an advertiser ID, open the advertiser on
  adstransparency.google.com: it is the `AR…` part of the page URL. You can
  also paste the whole URL.
- A target with no ads returns a row with `errorCode: "no_ads_found"`, and an
  input that is not a domain or advertiser ID returns a row with
  `errorCode: "invalid_target"`, so you always know why a competitor is missing.
- One run returns up to 20,000 ads per target. For the largest advertisers,
  use `region`, `format` or `shownSince` to narrow the search.
- You pay only for rows in your dataset.

# Actor input Schema

## `targets` (type: `array`):

Competitor website domains (nike.com, https://www.zalando.it/) or Google advertiser IDs (AR16735076323512287233, or the advertiser page URL from adstransparency.google.com). Up to 100 per run.

## `region` (type: `string`):

Only ads shown in this country. Anywhere = all countries.

## `format` (type: `string`):

Only ads of this format: TEXT (Google Search), IMAGE (Display) or VIDEO (YouTube).

## `shownSince` (type: `string`):

Only ads shown on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD, up to 365 days back), including ads that started earlier and are still running. Leave empty for all ads.

## `maxAdsPerTarget` (type: `integer`):

Stop each target after this many ads. 0 = no limit.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "nike.com",
    "booking.com"
  ],
  "region": "anywhere",
  "format": "all",
  "maxAdsPerTarget": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "targets": [
        "nike.com",
        "booking.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("nogards95/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "targets": [
        "nike.com",
        "booking.com",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("nogards95/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "targets": [
    "nike.com",
    "booking.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call nogards95/google-ads-transparency-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,nogards95/google-ads-transparency-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/zucsFoKwWBspSN2k4/builds/yhkGF8Vx0FWf0Tjdk/openapi.json